A New Face, A New Adventure
by Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose
Summary: After a rambunctious Valentines day, Pete and Alison soon find themselves having to prepare for another family member. DISCLAIMER! I do not own PvZ, I own the plot. (This is the canon aftermath of I Would Do Anything For Family.)
1. Chapter 1: New Life

**A/N: Well after that Valentines Day short and a few discussions with ThePeawithGoggles, this story will be the canon aftermath of I Would Do Anything For Family. By The Blood of the Innocent will take place in an alternate timeline but One Choice, Can Change The World will be in the same timeline as the other stories.**

Alison the Fire Flower, who wore a pair of silver Aviator glasses, sat beside her Paranormal Peashooter partner, Pete (Who was a ghost), opposite their Fire Pea son, Desmond. Desmond had a quizzical look on his face as he looked at his parents.

"Well...now that we're all here...I have some, big news." Alison said rather haphazardly, she didn't know how to approach the situation.

"Are we getting a pet?" Asked Desmond in a happy tone, his birthday was coming up and he had been hinting at the prospects of owning a pet. Both Pete and Alison smiled at their son.

"Maybe...But I think this is bigger than a pet, Des." Pete's tone was tainted with slight humour.

"Desmond...You are going to be a brother." Alison let the news slip rather quickly and Desmond just dropped the Foot Soldier helmet he was inspecting.

"...I...I'm going to...to be a brother?" Desmond stammered as he tried to comprehend what he had just been told.

"I believe you are." Pete stood and spoke before drifting out of the room. "I have some business to attend to for L.E.A.F. I'll be back in a few days."

"But it's my birthday in a few days..." Desmond let out in a slightly sad tone.

"Don't worry, Des. I'll be back for it."

* * *

 _Fast Forward a few months or so._

* * *

Alison lay beside the small, potted sapling that slightly resembled a Mystic Flower. She looked up when the door into her Private Ward was opened and the doctor, who happened to be a colleague of hers, let Desmond and Pete into the room. Both Peashooter and Fire Pea huddled around her bed, looks of relief and astonishment on their faces.

"Who's the new family member?" Pete asked Alison with a smile.

"I was thinking...Sonja." Alison replied weakly. Pete smiled at her and nodded.

"That's a nice name." Desmond uttered as he looked at his Mystic Flower sister. "I promise that no harm will come to her." Both Pete and Alison looked at their son in astonishment, it was a bold statement from someone his age.

"Never let anyone tell you that you aren't a Lathyrus, you just proved you are." Pete spoke quietly as the small sapling moved slightly.

"Alright. I really appreciate the two of you coming down here at such an early time in the morning. But I'm exhausted and I really think you both should be asleep." Pete smiled and kissed her lightly.

"Alright then. Goodnight, Alison. I'll come see you tomorrow." With that Pete placed a ghostly white pod on Desmond's shoulder. "Come on. I'll call you in sick tomorrow so you don't have to go in for drill and training."

"Thanks dad." Desmond replied. After that, Father and Son left the Ward and made their way home.

* * *

 _Fast Forward 10 years._

* * *

Desmond lay on his bed, the Foot Soldier Helmet he had gained over ten years ago sat upon the desk beside his bed. His cell phone sat beside him as he was in a call with the girl plant of his dreams, Raziel. Raziel was a Fire Rose who had, apparently, come from the past looking for a compatriot of hers that had apparently come to his present many years ago. Raziel was quickly enthralled with their present and decided she would stay, after consulting her master. After gaining their aproval, she was transfered into Desmond's squad.

"Look, Desmond. You're sweet but I mean...I'm pretty busy at the moment." Desmond frowned.

"Alright. Well...if you're ever free...let me know." Desmond's reply lacked any recognizable emotions.

"Hey, are you alright?" Raziel sounded somewhat intrigued.

"Yeah, I'm fine...Look, I gotta go. My dad is calling for me."

"Bye." As soon as Raziel finished saying 'bye', Desmond hung up and sat up. As soon as he sat up, his sister, Sonja, a Mystic Flower with clear white eyes, teleported beside him, a devioulsy smile on her face.

"Hey brother...what ya doing?" Sonja asked with a strangely curious tone.

"N-Nothing..." Desmond's reply was tainted with sadness.

"Oh no...Did she reject you...again?" Sonja's voice was toned with sarcasm.

"Sh-She's busy...She's just busy."

"Aw...someone's dealing with rejection." Sonja pulled her brother into a stranglehold and gave him a noogie. Desmond growled and tried to grab his sister. Sonja giggled as she teleported to his other side and lightly punched Desmond on his left arm. Desmond tried to grab her and she simply teleported to his other side and punched him, again. Desmond growled as he got up and stormed from his room. He walked into the lounge, a look of anger on his 22 year old face. He grabbed the remote and put the television on before he went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass of water and some plant food. He sat on the couch and ate the plant food as he watched two teams of All-Star zombies play Brain-ball, a variation of the old human game of Gridiron.


	2. Chapter 2: Talon, the Black Dragon

Raziel sighed and put the phone down, she didn't like it when she had to reject the Fire Pea, unfortunately she was too busy searching out her companion, Avrae.

"Talon, where are you?" She called out for her animal compatriot, a very small dragon she had saved from Avrae as the Dark Peashooter descended into darkness. A small 'Click-Click' told her that Talon was on the roof above her, their scaly tail shacking left to right in excitement. Raziel giggled and played around with the dragon's muzzle.

"Come on, let's go have another look before the sun goes down.

* * *

Desmond clasped his head in his pods as the team he had been rooting for, the Western Hippocampus', lost the game, by a massive gap. Desmond got up and took his cup and the bowl he had been using back in to the kitchen. He walked back into the lounge to find his sister flicking through the channels on the TV. Desmond shook his head and opened the door into the backyard.

"Hey, mum, dad. I'm going back to the barracks now. I'll see ya both later." Desmond let his parents know where he was going.

"Alright. Don't get hurt, alright." Alison let out in a worried tone.

"It's alright if he comes back with a few bruises and cuts, fighting isn't a clean business after all." Pete spoke this time.

"I'll see ya both later, anyway." With that, Desmond closed the door and headed to the bus station down the street, where he waited for the number four bus.

Desmond boarded the bus and flicked the driver a ten cent coin before taking a seat at the back of the deserted bus. After half an hour of riding the bus, Desmond hopped off at the barracks where his team, Team Sierra, which had gotten its name from his father's ex-team, and walked into the complex. Desmond headed straight to the gym where his second in command, a Peashooter named Calamity, was training a couple of the recruits they had recently received. Desmond sat on the side lines and waited for Calamity to finish speaking before he approached the recruits.

"Well aren't you all an interesting group of recruits." Desmond spoke to the recruits. Calamity, who didn't know his friend was there, jumped in fright, before saluting Desmond.

"Oh. Hey, Desmond. I didn't know you were coming in today." Calamity spoke in a surprised tone.

"I didn't plan on coming in. But since I'm here, I want all of you recruits to run a few laps of the court, I want to see how endurant you all are." The recruits ran off in an unorganized mess after Desmond finished speaking.

"Well since you're here...You wanna spar?" Calamity asked his friend.

"Sure, why not. I'm sure the recruits won't stay running forever, so they might pick something up off of our little duel." Desmond took a few steps back and formed his pods into fists. To Desmond's surprise, Calamity struck first for the Peashooter had hit Desmond square in the head with their fist. Desmond shook it off and struck Calamity unaware with a quick, flurry of fists. Calamity was stunned by the strikes and it took him a bit to recover. But when he did recover, he was able to knock Desmond onto his back with a kick. Desmond was able to sweep Calamity onto his back by taking out his roots in a kicking motion.

* * *

Avrae gripped the sword tightly as he wandered through the dark forest, the imposing castle in the distance. He looked down at himself, while physically he looked like a Peashooter, he was nothing but dark, no green visible, for he was nothing but a monster that not even death could touch. After a few minutes, the Dark Peashooter kicked down the old, decaying wooden doors at the front of the castle, the candles in the central courtyard were blown out by the shock wave of air caused by the doors hitting the ground.

"Why are you here, Demonkin?" Asked the Peashooter.

"Answers! You know who I am..." Avrae muttered in a solid tone. The Peashooter frowned as they stood and turned to face the Dark Peashooter.

"I know of you, Demonkin. But I do not know who you are. That is up to you." Avrae growled and charged at the Peashooter.

"Then you are of no use to me." Avrae let out coldly as he ran at the Peashooter. The unarmed Peashooter span out of the way of Avrae's attack and summoned their dark, obsidian blade, Oblivion, as well as their Heater Shield.

"I may not best you, but I will make sure that death can take you." Retorted the Peashooter.

"That blade, rightfully belongs to me." Spoke Avrae in an angry tone. Avrae jumped back as the Peashooter leapt forward.

"Well come and get it." The Peashooter dropped their shield and held their left pod out to their side as they uttered the words quietly. "Ignatius." A ball of fire appeared above their pod and they threw it at Avrae. The Dark Peashooter growled as he leapt back.

"Magic using coward!" Avrae spoke under his breathe as he deflected the fire balls off the blade of his sword. Avrae began throwing himself in random directions as he made his way towards the Peashooter.

"So be it." The Peashooter stopped throwing fire balls and charged at the erratic Dark Peashooter. When the two blades smashed into each other, a rare event happened. When the blades collided, a bright light emanated from the point where the blades collided, and pushed the two plants back from each other.

"What the?..." Avrae was confused by what had transpired, and then he clicked.

"You. YOU! You're the one my creators warned me of." The Peashooter looked at the Dark Peashooter, a befuddled look on their face.

"I'm the...what?" The Peashooter asked in a confused tone.

"You're the Lathyrus one. You're the damn Lathyrus that I can't kill because you are the exact opposite of me." Avrae spoke in an angry tone.

"I'm just a Paladin for the Order of the Rose...how does that work..."

"I don't know..." Avrae replied. 'You know why. But just like your identity, you won't know until you truly ask yourself.' Avrae growled as his worst enemy, himself, started talking.

"Look, Demonkin-"

"Avrae." The Dark Peashooter interrupted the Peashooter angrily.

"-Avrae. I want to know what's going on as well. If we work together, we may be able to figure this out." Avrae growled at the prospect of working with someone who is completely opposite him. Avrae was supposed to destroy plants, this Paladin was supposed to protect them to the end.

"Look. As much as this goes against every fiber in my body, I am willing to work with you until we find out what's going on." Avrae spoke rather begrudgingly.


	3. Chapter 3: No chances

Raziel drifted through the aging forest, Talon leaping from tree to tree above her. As the Fire Rose looked around and through the aging trees, she was startled by the sound of two large wooden doors slamming onto a hard, stone floor, not too far away.

"Come on Talon, she called out to the small, black dragon above her as she started towards the epicenter of the loud crack that had sounded out through the forest. Talon replied with a 'click-click' and the two started in the direction of the loud crack.

* * *

Avrae begrudgingly followed the Peashooter, that wielded his blade, out of the courtyard and back into the forest. The two plants spent the next two hours wandering through the moon-lit forest as they made their way towards the outskirts of Zomburbia. Avrae was constantly jerking his head around and behind him as he as if someone was stalking the two plants.

"Where are you leading me, Lathyrus?" The Peashooter stopped and went prone.

"Get down." He whispered, but Avrae wasn't buying it. He walked past the proned Peashooter and walked into the clearing that was just ahead of them. Avrae looked back at the Peashooter and shrugged.

* * *

Raziel gasped as she watched Avrae, the Dark Peashooter that she knew was simply misunderstood, was tackled to the ground and beaten by the zombies that had charged into the clearing. She gasped when she saw the Peashooter that had been escorting Avrae, leap from their spot and try to alleviate the Dark Peashooter.

"N-no...Talon. Help them...please." Raziel begged her Dragon companion as she watched the obsidian sword the Peashooter was wielding, get kicked out of their pod and the Peashooter themself get kicked onto their back. Talon looked terrified at the prospect of fighting, but he let out a 'click-click' and started bounding towards the clearing.

* * *

Avrae tried to fight off the large group of zombies that were beating him back to the ground. Every time he was able to get to his roots, he would be knocked down. He had tried shooting the zombies, but they seemed to be protected by someone or something, as his Dark Peas weren't effective, even if they were supposed to injure and vanquish other plants, they could still cause some damage to zombies. Avrae shot in frustration, to his surprise it did something. A zombie deflected the Dark Pea straight at the back of the Peashooter that was also trying to fight off the zombies, the Dark Pea made contact and the Peashooter collapsed as the corrupted Pea knocked him out.

* * *

Talon launched himself through the shrubbery at the edge of the clearing and straight into a zombie that had picked up the Peashooter that had been knocked out. He dug his claws into the zombies back, which caused the zombies to start jerking around erratically at the sudden pain. Talon quickly ended their pain by ripping their head straight off their shoulders and throwing it to the side. The corpse fell still and fell forward, onto the knocked out plant, and Talon withdrew his claws as he leapt towards the zombies pummeling Avrae. Talon was tempted to let out a burst of Dragon Fire, but he knew that his fire was extremely volatile and he would probably injure Avrae more than the zombies. Talon, instead, relied on his claws and teeth to deal with the zombies. The first zombie in his path fell easily, Talon was leaping past them and he quickly ripped their throat out with his claws, before moving onto the zombie immediately in front of him.

* * *

Raziel drifted into the clearing and, using her time snare ability, slowed a group of zombies near the knocked out Peashooter before she revived them. She looked up at Talon as the black dragon dispatched of another zombie, she gasped slightly when she saw the bite marks on his flank. Raziel raised her flaming scepter above her head and sent fire ball after fire ball towards the zombies. The homing projectiles caused discord for the zombies as they were being ignited and there was almost no way for them to put themselves out, in the clearing. Raziel was surprised when she heard the Peashooter she had revived behind her.

"WHO SENT YOU?!"

"Go...back to hell you runt!" Came a gravely voice, it was followed by the sound of someone spitting. Raziel turned to find the Peashooter holding an obsidian sword to a zombies throat, the zombie looked similar to a human soldier and she remembered them being called 'Foot Soldiers' by Desmond and some of the other plants. The Peashooter made a small incision in the Foot Soldier's throat.

"Don't make me ask again." Spoke the Peashooter angrily.

"I'd rather go back to the grave." Replied the bloodied zombie.

"Fine then." The Peashooter sliced across their throat and let their limp corpse fall to the ground.

* * *

Avrae looked over at the Fire Rose, the feelings of anger, regret and relief started to overwhelm him. For, what like an eternity, he just stared at her, and she started staring back. He was broken from his trance by a 'click-click' and a slight nudge from behind.

"Why do you look familiar, dragon?" Avrae asked. Suddenly his eyes went blank as he had a flashback.

* * *

 _Flashback Twelve Years_

* * *

Avrae threw the empty flask at the Fire Rose in anger.

"I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU! YOU AND THAT...BLOODY DRAGON!" The Dark Peashooter yelled at the one plant that had ever trusted him, and he felt great for doing it.

"Avrae-"

"Don't 'Avrae', me!" The Dark Peashooter interrupted Raziel as she tried to calm him. "For all I know, you aren't even real...Yeah...I'm fricking hallucinating!"

"No you aren't Avrae...I'm still here, and so is Talon." Raziel's words simply passed over him as he downed a flask of potion labeled as 'poison', it was only coffee.

"I never wanted him named Talon." Almost as if his name had summoned him, a small 'click-click' sounded out from the kitchen entrance and a small, scaly black head entered the stony brick kitchen. Avrae threw an empty flask at the head, which quickly ducked out of the way. Raziel was shocked by the Dark Peas actions so she grabbed the dragon, and left the dark castle.


	4. Chapter 4: Death watches

Desmond leapt up and walked over to his friend who lay on their back on the hard wooden floor of the gymnasium. He held out his pod and Calamity took it, only to pull the surprised Fire Pea to the ground. Calamity was able to get Desmond into a stranglehold and he started striking the Fire Pea's back with his free pod. Desmond was able to throw Calamity off and land a few punches of his own. Calamity withdrew a few steps away from his friend, before launching himself at Desmond. The Fire Pea smiled as he spun out of the way and avoided the tackle. Calamity hit the floor with a _'thud'_.

"I thought I had you." Spoke the Peashooter as he pushed himself up off of the floor and into a fighting position.

"My reactions are still pretty good." Desmond replied with a smile as he leapt forward at the bruised Peashooter.

"You know.. I was approached by a Scientist yesterday." Calamity spoke as he dodged a punch that had been thrown at him, before returning a couple himself.

"Oh yeah?" Desmond spoke while he dodged Calamity's return fire. "Did you take them out?" Just as the Fire Pea dodged another fist, he returned with a flurry of punches that were blocked.

"They were unarmed. Apparently he's figured out a way to return the undead to life." Desmond stopped mid- punch.

"W- What...how is that possible? And why did they approach you?" Desmond asked curiously.

"Apparently he's under threat from the more... fanatical zombies. So he wants me and a couple others to escort him from his lab and back to L.E.A.F so he can finish his research there... in relative safety." Calamity finished off his sentence before taking a seat at one of the bleachers along one of the long walls. Desmond walked over to the bleacher.

"So. You trust him?" Desmond asked in a slightly concerned tone.

"I don't know what to think... But perhaps this is a chance to gain my life back. If he's successful it could mean that I can live a normal life. Plants and people might finally see me as a plant instead of a... monster." Calamity's response was tainted with a hopeful tone.

"Well if you're going, I'll come as well." Desmond responded in an astute tone.

"You could bring the recruits since it might give them some battle experience if we run into trouble." Calamity's suggestion sounded good to Desmond.

"Sounds like a good idea. So... When are you going?" Asked the Fire Pea.

"I'll be leaving in a few days. The entire trip will take about a week at the most." Calamity's reply was stained with uncertainty.

* * *

Avrae yelled out as he shook his head to try and vanquish the flashback before he slipped back into it. He started panting as he rested one pod on the ground and used it as a support while he rested his other pod against his head, the world was reeling for him. After a few seconds, a warmth moved towards him, he looked up to see Raziel approaching him slowly.

"Get away from me, sorceress, you know what I am." The Dark Peashooter let out angrily at the Fire Rose approaching him.

"Indeed I do, Avrae. You're a plant."

"NO! I am nothing but a monstrosity created to kill you and your kind!" Avrae interrupted Raziel, the Fire Rose wasn't going to let him destroy himself again.

"You are not a monstrosity, Avrae. You are my friend and a plant, no matter what you say." Raziel's reply shocked the Dark Peashooter.

"I-I...No. Why did you really come back? Was it the bounty on my head?" Avrae's question shocked the Fire Rose.

"I can't believe you would think that. Look, Avrae, I want to make sure you don't so anything drastic. I want to make sure you return to your castle in one piece...I want to..." 'Finish the sentence', Raziel stopped before she finished her sentence, she didn't want to admit she still needed the Dark Peashooter.

"You what, Raziel?" Avrae asked the stunned Fire Rose. 'Tell him', she thought as she tried to finish the sentence.

"I want to return to your castle with you." Raziel placed her equivalents of hands straight over her mouth after she finished blurting out what she had wanted to say.

"Y-You...want to return...after all I did..." Raziel could only nod slowly for she was at a loss for words. Avrae was now, also at a loss for words.

* * *

Delnid watched the Fire Rose and Dark Peashooter carefully, he was afraid of Avrae losing control and lashing out at the Fire Rose, but he seemed to be in control still. Delnid turned and checked the tree line surrounding the clearing for any remaining zombies. As Delnid scanned the tree line, his eyes fell upon those of a cloaked Plasma Peas, eyes that Delnid knew all to well for it was his old friend Alduin. But Delnid remembered, Alduin was no longer the same Plasma Pea he had been when they were both squires, he had changed a large amount after he had been summoned by the gods to assume the role of death. Delnid's senses were suddenly heightened, if Alduin was there, someone was going to die.

* * *

The cloak wearing, scythe wielding Plasma Pea looked straight into the eyes of his old friend and watched as Delnid expressed a very rare emotion in a Lathyrus, fear. His friend jerked their head as they searched for the one that may die, but Alduin knew all to well who would die, and that their death would make his job far harder than it had to be. Alduin stopped looking at his friend and towards the Tank Commander that was crouching in the bushes at the edge of the clearing, their Mega Cannon loaded and aimed straight at the Fire Rose. Delnid must have seen where he was looking and headed towards where the Tank Commander was hidden. Alduin watched in shock as he had a vision of, not the Fire Rose falling to the Cannon, but his friend. Avrae wanted to launch himself into the clearing, throw his old friend out of the way, but he knew his touch was deadly to the living. Alduin watched as the Tank Commander leapt out of the bush and fired the cannon.

* * *

Desmond walked across the front yard and towards the front door of his families home. While his parents, Pete Lathyrus and Alison Helianthus, his sister, Sonja Helianthus, and himself were the primary residents of the large house, sometimes his extended family would stay there as well. So it wasn't much of a surprise when Desmond walked in through the front door and into the lounge where he found his Uncle Ambrose, a Fire Pea, with his Aunt Turilli, an Ice Cactus that was partnered with his uncle Ambrose, as well as his young male cousin, Luca, a Jade Cactus that seemed confused a lot of times.

"Cousin Desmond!" Luca let out excitedly when Desmond walked into the room because Desmond couldn't resist giving the young Jade Cactus a little bit of his hidden food stash.

"Desmond. What have you been up to, nephew." This time his uncle Ambrose spoke.

"Not much, uncle Ambrose." Desmond replied.

"Alright then. Well I came to explain to your father, and now you, that an important job has come up and I was able to convince Icee to let your team attempt it." Ambrose's reply shocked Desmond.

"What's the mission?" Desmond asked.

"Well a scientist has been working closely with a few of our spies to develope a serum that can return the undead to life. Unfortunately not all zombies like this plan so we need to send a team in to escort him and his research out of his current base and into L.E.A.F HQ." Ambrose finished speaking.

"Funny you mention that, but Calamity brought it up at the barracks and I was actually considering taking the recruits with me and him but...this seems like a good mission." Desmond's reply was ended with a slight smile.

"Alright then. I'll tell Icee and the other leaders that your team can do it." Desmond nodded in approval at his Uncles statement before heading into the kitchen and grabbing something to eat.


	5. Chapter 5: Revenants and Death

Alduin watched as the shell from the Tank Commander hit Delnid straight in the chest. The Peashooter yelled out as he was blown onto his back, a large burn mark on his green chest. Delnid survived the blast and sat up before charging the Tank Commander. The Tank Commander quickly reloaded and fired again, Delnid took the shell straight to the head, he was quickly vanquished. By the time the Tank Commander was able to reload, a dark pod wrapped itself around their throat, Avrae easily held the Tank Commander in a stranglehold. The Dark Pea started punching the Tank Commander in the face, they started to cough up a bit of blood. The Tank Commander was starting to get desperate so they quickly aimed their Mega Cannon at the Fire Rose and fired. Raziel was too busy reviving the downed Peashooter to notice the shell that was about to impact into her side. She yelled out as the shell blew her away from Delnid and onto her side, she struggled to get up. Avrae growled as he punched the Tank Commander faster and faster in anger. After a twenty seconds, Avrae put the Tank Commander out of their misery and snapped their neck. Avrae turned to find death himself slowly crossing the clearing towards Raziel, their Scythe started to apparate in their pod.

Alduin slowly approached the Fire Rose, they were supposed to have died so he would make sure she did. He looked down at Delnid, the Peashooter was still alive, but he knew that he may have to reap him if his spark gave in. Alduin looked at the struggling Fire Rose, the weight of his scythe, Adjudicator formed in his left pod. Alduin raised Adjudicator above his head, 'Why did Delnid have to intervene? Why couldn't he have just let her die? Because he's a Lathyrus, his damn family seemed to have a strange affinity with him, death.' Alduin's thoughts were broken when he was tackled from the side by a Dark Peashooter. Alduin growled and grabbed the plants neck, he expected the Dark Peashooter to fall limp in his grip, but they seemed to be unaffected by deaths touch. Alduin's eyes widened, he was dealing with a revenant that he couldn't reap for their soul was too far gone. Alduin yelped when the Dark Peashooter kicked him in the chest, it was the first time in a long time since someone had struck him for he was untouchable to, nearly, all of the living world. Alduin growled as he circled his cloak around him and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke for only life had the power to redeem revenants so that death could take them. Unfortunately Life wasn't fond of death at the time for she was blaming Alduin for a mass murder that had occurred a few weeks ago.

* * *

Avrae sniggered at the cloud of smoke, death was a coward for not fighting him. Avrae's eyes widened in shock when he heard Raziel cough loudly.

"RAZIEL! NO! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!" Avrae grabbed her travel pack and went through it, he couldn't find any medical supplies so he tried the downed Peashooter's travel pack, that too lacked any medical supplies. Avrae started to get desperate so he ripped off one of the dark leaves that grew off the back of his head and wrapped it around the burn wound on Raziel, to his surprise, the wound healed over very quickly as the leaf was absorbed into the Fire Rose. Something strange happened though, instead of returning to her normal state, Raziel's petals seemed to darken while her innocent expression started to fade.

"I feel...so strange." She let out weakly. "Heh...Avrae...you seem different." Raziel sounded quite confused.

"You're alive. Oh thank goodness you are." Avrae's smile started to fade when he noticed the downed Peashooter, they were barely breathing. Part of Avrae told him to leave the Peashooter to die, another part was telling him to save the Peashooter, unfortunately he didn't know how to while Raziel was too weak to do it. Avrae grabbed Oblivion, the obsidian blade that lay on the ground and grabbed the gem that encrusted the blades hilt, he felt like he was going to regret doing this. He placed the gem on the Peashooter's chest and it started to glow and resonate as one of the two enchantments that were attributed to the gem started to work. After a few seconds, the gem stopped glowing and the Peashooter sat up in shock.

"What...happened?" The Peashooter asked with a bewildered expression.

"You took a couple shots for Raziel, for that, I'm indebted to you...we both are." Avrae's explanation shocked the Peashooter.

"You aren't indebted to me at all. I was only trying to do my job...but it seems like I failed." The Peashooter annoyed Avrae slightly, they were being humble and it was annoying him.

"Alright. Well I want to know your name at least." Avrae's request bewildered the peashooter slightly.

"Well, alright. The name's Delnid. You know my family name." Avrae was surprised, his brother's name was Delnid.

* * *

Desmond finished packing his bag and threw by the door of his room, he was taking more medical supplies than he normally did, in case any of the recruits were injured as he knew how arrogant some of them were and that they wouldn't take any medical supplies. Desmond grabbed a bottle of water and took a quick swig before grabbing his bag and leaving his room. As he headed for the front door, his sister teleported beside him.

"Where ya going?" She asked with a questioning tone.

"I'm just going to work. Where's mum and dad?" Desmond asked his sister so he could say goodbye to them before heading out.

"Mum's just gone to work, dad's sadly looking out the window thinking about stuff." Sonja's reply confused Desmond slightly.

"He's...what?" Sonja giggled at his bewildered brother.

"If he asks, you didn't get it from me." With that, Sonja teleported to her room probably and Desmond went into the lounge to see if his sister was telling the truth. As he entered the lounge, he was slightly surprised and slightly bumbed out by the glum look on his dads face.

"Hey, dad. What's wrong?" Desmond asked with a concerned tone.

"Hmm? Oh, Des, h-hey." Pete's reply seemed distant, his father really was deep in thought.

"Dad. Are you alright?" Desmond asked again.

"Of course I am." Pete's reply wasn't satisfactory for Desmond.

"You seem pre-occupied." Desmond's statement caused Pete to sigh.

"Look, you're my son, but you shouldn't care about my problems. Look, I know you're leaving for this mission, if you ever need help, yell my name, I'll be there in a flash." Pete's reply made Desmond frown.

"I hate seeing you like this, is there something happening between you and mum?" Desmond's concern made Pete frown harder.

"The situation between myself and your mother is the best it's been since we first met. I only wish for my body so that I can really comfort her in times of sorrow." Desmond sighed at his fathers reply.

"Well, alright then. If I find out how to get you your body back, I'll let you know. Well I gotta go, I can hear Dave's flying RV approaching, I'll see you when I get back." Desmond hugged his father before leaving the house and getting into Dave's flying RV.


	6. Chapter 6: Memories of pain

**A/N: Short chapter that I quickly wrote up during a free period I had at school. The chapter starts off with a first person flashback set in the eyes of Peter (Lathyrus) Elatius. So, enjoy and I'm so, so sorry about how short this is. I promise to try and put more effort into the next chapter ;-;**

I groaned as I reluctantly opened my tired eyes, my back was still searing in pain from the night beforehand. I grunted as I hit the oak wood floor with a thud, rolling off the uncomfortable couch was a bad idea. Rolling onto my back, I finally got a proper look at the state of my body. The leaves around my roots were tattered and torn, clear evidence that I had been fighting all of the previous day. My stem was caked in multiple places with dried blood, most of which seemed to be my own, as well as multiple lacerations and cuts, probably the results of Z1-Assault Blasters and explosives going off around me. Along with the cuts I had been bruised and burnt heavily by Imps, their mechs, All-Stars, Superbrainz and fire variants. My head was pounding, it felt like I was being slammed against a wall constantly. I reached up with my right pod and ran it through the grass buzz cut I had, my fathers bandanna was still tied to my head, that was surprising.

"I'm going to need a wash." I spoke to myself for it seemed like I was alone.

"Hey, kid, you aren't going to find a shower here." I jumped in fright, which was rare for someone like myself to do. I looked over at the dark corner from which the grumply voice had come. I scrambled to my roots and backed away from the corner slowly. To my shock, an All-Star walked out of the shadows, their skin was barely beginning to to decay. I wanted to shoot the All-Star, but when I tried to shoot the All-Star, I coughed up some blood. The All-Star smiled deviously, well it looked like they did, beneath their helmet.

"You're shit out of luck, kid." The words they uttered were menacing, even to an Elatius like myself. The All-Star bent over, and prepared to sprint tackle me. I leapt to the side just in the nick of time as an ethereal whistle broke the air and I felt the All-Star barely clip me as he sprinted past. The All-Star growled angrily and swung a heavy, gloved fist at me. The fist made contact against the left side of my head, the force knocked me off my roots and on to my side. I grunted as I started pushing myself off of the creaking, wood floor with my right pod while I used my left pod to rub the fresh blood off of my face. The punch had split apart some of my head and the wound was starting to bleed. Before I was able to get up onto my roots, a foot enveloped in a tied up boot collided with my gut. The kick was powerful enough to leave the pattern of the strings imprinted in my stem. My right arm gave in and I hit the floor with a thud.

"Pathetic weakling. How haven't we crushed you all yet?" I growled angrily at the taunting All-Star. Before the All-Star could finish me off, a tongue wrapped itself around the All-Star's torso.

"What the-GAH!" The All-Star was quickly thrown up and enveloped within the giant maw of a Chomper.

"Need's more salt, and maybe some rosemary and thyme." The Chomper exclaimed after swallowing the All-Star. "Holy Dave! Peter, what the Dave happened?!" I got to my roots, and looked up at the hulking Chomper. Despite the fact I was taller than most other Peashooters, the Chomper still towered over me.

"Just.. Let's not talk about it, Cole." Cole frowned at me.

"Look, I've got some bad news." Cole's expression told me that the news really was bad.

"What is it then?" I asked in an apprehensive tone.

"It's about Pete. He's been sentenced.. To death."

* * *

 _Flash to the present._

* * *

Peter sat on the park bench, Sonatra, a Sunflower, sat on his left, her head resting on his shoulder, his left arm rested over her. While on his right sat his Sunflower daughter, Ali.

"I'll never get sick of this view." Sonatra's exclamation snapped Peter out of the flashback he had been enthralled in. Ali must have noticed the worried and shocked expression on his face.

"Dad, what's the matter?" Ali's question made Peter frown harder.

"I'm just remembering the day your uncle, Pete, was sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit." Ali was surprised by how straight up her dad was, he didn't enjoy talking about his past, especially if it concerns his old friends.

"Well Pete's alive and well." Sonatra directed her statement at Peter, he nodded in agreement. "And while we're on this subject. Ali, how's your cousin, have you told him?" Ali blushed at her mother's question.

"I can't bring myself to tell him, he's smitten by the Fire Rose anyway." Sonatra frowned at her daughter's response.

"What about you, Peter. Have you told Pete yet?" Peter blushed as well. "I swear Ali takes after you more than me."

"Look, I haven't told him because.. Um.." Peter was stumped, why hadn't he told Pete? The Lathyrus would have been excited to learn of his extended family.


	7. Chapter 7: Rejection and Family

Desmond sat down on a seat at the back of the occupied RV, all the recruits that were coming and Calamity were already aboard the flying RV. Once seated, Desmond looked over the group of five plants. Near the front of the RV sat a Kernel Corn named Nathan, next to them sat a Metal Petal named Tania. Calamity sat on the couch in the center of the RV, Karren, a Petrified Cactus, sat beside Calamity, as well as an Armour Chomper named Apollo. Desmond frowned, he was unhappy that Raziel hadn't joined them, actually, when he thought about it, she hadn't been answering her phone.

"So, what are you gonna do, Calamity, if this works?" Desmond looked up, Apollo had asked the question.

"Honestly, run up to Ali, and ask her a question that I have wanted to ask her since my death." Desmond smiled, he knew exactly what he wanted to ask her. Desmond wanted to say something, but his phone went off.

"Hello?" He asked the other plant or person on the other end of the call.

"Hey, Desmond, I got something to tell you." Desmond gave off a confused look.

"Uh alright then, Ali." Ali gave off an excited squee before speaking.

"Well uh...how do I say this. Well I was chatting with my parents and well...uh...how do I say this...we're cousins." Desmond nearly dropped the phone in shock.

"W-What? How?" Desmond stammered.

"Well my dad's father was a Lathyrus while his mum was an Elatius. My dad went with Elatius because he was more confident than normal and he just had a knack for talking with others and...I'm rambling." Desmond couldn't think of the words to express how he was feeling, it was a mix of shock and confusion. After a few seconds, Desmond shook his head.

"Uh..alright..." Desmond stopped mid sentence, Calamity had come over to him. "Hey, I think Calamity wants to talk to you." Calamity nodded and Desmond handed the zombified Peashooter his phone.

"Hey, Ali, I was wondering...if this scientist can bring me back to life...if you wanted to, you know, go on a date?" Calamity spoke with a tone tainted with uncertainty.

"...Are you serious?" Ali's voice was toned was toned with bemusement.

"N-No...I was just..." Calamity dropped the phone and slunked away to the small bathroom in the back of the RV.

* * *

Avrae frowned as Delnid knocked on the door of the house, he was bored of their search for Delnid's family so they could plan their next moves in safety.

"You know, can't you just take us back to our time period, Raziel?" Avrae asked in frustration.

"Like I said many times before, I can't remember the spell that will take us back to the past." Raziel's reply was tainted with anger. Before Avrae could reply, Delnid spoke out.

"We're in luck." Delnid walked through the door of the house so both Avrae and Raziel shrugged and walked in after him. Delnid waited for Avrae and Raziel to catch up to him before leading them to the lounge of the large house. A few seconds after the three had taken a seat on one of the two couches, a ghostly white Peashooter drifted into the lounge, a longing look on their pale white face.

"So, how can I be of assistance?" The pale white Peashooter asked in a rather reluctant tone.

"Pete, we need a time machine." Pete seemed to stifen at the mention of a time machine.

"I don't like this, not one bit. The last time someone messed with time, we were almost wiped out." Pete's expression went blank as years of war flashed before him.

"I know that, I had a pod in it. But look, we can't contact any roses and we need a way to return to our time period." Pete snapped back to reality at his many great grandfather's comment.

"I know, you had to do something to fix the timeline, but knowing that all this could have been avoided if Ane and his friends hadn't been interrupted by that Camo Ranger you had hired..." Pete's tone was tainted with the feeling that he had been betrayed.

"Look, we couldn't have let them stop Zomboss, it wasn't meant to happen. Look, can you help us or not?" Pete frowned, but he nodded.

"Grab my pod, all of you, I know just where we could start looking." Pete held out a pod and once Avrae, Delnid and Raziel had grabbed his extended pod, he teleported himself with them to an abandoned base that lay in ruins, the site held too many memories for anyone to bother trying to repair it.

* * *

Death growled angrily as the Goddess of War, a giant of a Fire Pea, made fun of his failure to reap his target, not his fault a revenant was there.

"Of everyone here, I most expected, Nedenei to cower from a fight." The gods laughed and the small Plasma Pea could only sit there and take the crap from the other gods and goddess'.

"You know, Upint, I don't see you out on Earth doing a job." Alduin's comment wiped the smug right off of Upint's face.

"Oh, and who do you think has been keeping you busy over the past couple of decades? While that 'war' is officially over, it still rages, plants and zombies will never be friends, not while I still breathe." Upint's statement made Alduin growl, he may have hated Horryine, the current god of life, for the fact that Horryine always complains about his job and always harasses Alduin simply because Alduin had taken over Horryine's job as death, Upint was really testing his nerves.

"Upint, you could do everyone a favour and stop starting fights between the plants and zombies." Upint growled at Alduin, who did he think he was, questioning her judgement.

"Who do you think you are! To judge me. It's my job to rile up the fighters, give them targets for their anger, give them a reason to live. You think I simply get two groups to murder each other? Well you should do your research." Alduin growled, Upint was right, and it only made Alduin feel angrier. As Alduin's anger grew, his scythe, Adjudicator, formed in his pods. Upint saw this and summoned her weapons, the marble hall seemed to rise slightly in temperature.

 _A/N:_

Hey, Epic Doomshroom, I've started planning a basic idea for a potential side story. I would greatly appreciate it, and it would help a lot, if you would create and account on this site so that you could give me more information about your characters and the plot via the Private Message feature. I hope you consider taking such action for I wouldn't mind collaborating with you at all.~Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose.


	8. Chapter 8: Team Sprout and the Russians

**A/N: Something off the beaten path, the relevance of this chapter to the rest of the story will be revealed later. This is also a way to link a coming story with the rest of the timeline in more ways than one.**

The fire cracked loudly as it illuminated the small camp, the group of four plants sat around the fire, or lay in the case of the Chomper, none of them wanting to break the near silence of the night. In the distance, a wolf howled away at the moon, getting the attention of the Peashooter and the Cactus, the Sunflower was busy comforting the injured Chomper. The Peashooter looked over at the Chomper, he felt as if he had failed the team by letting Dimytri, the Chomper, get injured. Using his left pod, the Peashooter adjusted the black scarf around his throat so that it covered his circular mouth as well, the wind was picking up and he thought he had saw something moving in the treeline.

"Where are you going, Toki?" The Peashooter stood and looked over at the Sunflower who had asked the question. She wore a L.E.A.F Badge, something he hadn't seen her wear often.

"I saw something in the treeline, I'm just going to go and have a look, Svelana." His reply seemed sufficient for the Sunflower.

* * *

Toki approached the treeline cautiously, he didn't want to startle whatever was in the treeline. Toki pulled the scarf down from his mouth as the wind dropped again, his pod now resting on the hilt of a sword he had found at the bottom of a river he had been swimming in once. Toki stepped into the bushes that rimmed the clearing they were camping in, as he did so, he stopped dead in his track, an imposing figure rose above him. Toki put on a face of determination as he unsheathed his sword and readied himself to strike whatever it was that towered over him.

"Is that the one?" Asked a semi disfigured voice from above him.

"I think so. What do you think?" Replied another. Toki lowered his sword slightly.

"What do you want?" He asked the two disfigured voices.

"You, and your friends. You have something L.E.A.F wants." This voice came from his left, another figure towered over the Peashooter. Toki raised his sword once again, if these figures were hostile, he would make sure they had to bleed to get at his friends.

"Lower the sword, Pea, you're outnumbered, four to one." This voice seemed far more sophisticated than the other voices and it came from his right. 'How long could I hold out against them?' Toki asked himself as he readied himself for whatever the three, apparently four, figures had for him.

"Lightning, shock 'im." Toki's world spun as electricity coursed through his body, bringing the Peashooter to his pods, he was refusing to yell out and alert his friends to his plight, he had failed Dimytri, he wasn't going to let any of the others be hurt.

"Nice shot, Lightning." The voice that had spoke this time seemed to be that of the first one to have spoke.

"Thanks, Saur." Toki pushed himself to his roots and wiped some mud from the trench coat he wore.

"That the worst you can do? I've taken a lot more than just that." The figure to Toki's left leapt forward and tackled the Peashooter to the ground. Toki's sword fell from his pod and he hit the ground, face first, a root pinned his head to the thin layer of leaves.

"Pathetic. I can't believe L.E.A.F want you, you're family are nothing but glorified shields." Whatever had pinned Toki to the ground twisted their root around on his head, forcing Toki's head around on the ground, cutting the left side of his head in a multitude of places.

* * *

Svelana Hugged the giant head of the injured Chomper, he was barely ever like this. Dimytri was always the most optimistic of their group, he kept a smile on most of their faces, especially her own. Dimytri may have been a joker, but he was capable of protecting himself and his friends, but sometimes reality catches up with the Chomper and he seems to retreat into himself. Svelana sighed as she ran one of her equivalents of a hand over the Chompers spikes, he had been a good friend to her after she rescued him from a crumbling base, alongside Toki. She sighed again when she thought of the Peashooter, he always worried her. After they had learnt of the fate of their country, they fled into the forests. Not long after leaving behind their ruined homes for the forests, Toki learnt what had happened to his family, the news caused the normally happy Peashooter to feel no more than pain, anger and failure, he hadn't smiled since learning of his families fate.

"Svelana, here's some of that salve you asked me to make." Svelana looked up at the Cactus, who threw her a tightly closed flask. Svelana caught the flask, opened it and began applying the Salve to the multiple wounds on Dimytri.

"Thank you, Vera." The Cactus smiled at her.

"No problem, Svelana. I better go and see what that troublesome Peashooter found." Vera stood up from the opposite side of the fire and started to look around where the Peashooter had gone.

* * *

The gentle touch of the Sunflower soothed his thoughts, calmed them so that he didn't fall into the same pit that Toki had. But not even the Sunflowers presence could ward off the memories that had accumulated, some played out like mere blurs, others seemed to last forever. Despite this, the memories all shared a common attribute, they were of someone close to him being hurt, Toki, Svelana, his parents, his siblings, the Cactus whose name he had yet to learn, humans he never even knew their yells of pain made him shudder inside, he felt so helpless as he watched them all suffer, for him. A scream, far more realistic than any he had experienced since being overwhelmed by the memories, pierced the air. Almost as soon as the scream broke the nights semi silent blanket of dark, the soft, reassuring presence of the Sunflower disappeared. Dimytri suddenly felt lonely, lonelier than he had ever been before, in fact, it was as if everyone had abandoned him. This made him want to cry, he wanted a way to let out the pain, but he couldn't, without eyes, he couldn't cry, he couldn't let it out.

* * *

Toki watched in horror as Vera was lifted into the air by an unseen force. As if by thinking of the unseen force, a Rose drifted out of the treeline and observed the spiky plant. Vera wore a light grey scarf as well as a spiked aviator cap, her goggles had fallen to the ground.

"A flyer...that's rare." The voice was that of the sophisticated Rose, a bundle of books seemed to be strapped to his waist, well his equivalent of one.

"LET ME DOWN! If you know what's good for you." Vera let out in a shrill voice.

"She's a feisty one, isn't she?" This voice was a gruff one, it came from the plant that was pinning Toki to the ground. Toki growled as he watched the Rose yank one of Vera's spikes out of her and placed it in a bag. Toki shot at the Rose in anger, catching everyone by surprise. Whatever was pinning him to the ground slammed their roots against his head until Toki's breathing was ragged and heavy, blood pouring down the side of his head from multiple cuts. "You're gonna regret that, Pea'."

"Andrew, that's enough. They need all of them alive." This came from the giant, looming figure that had appeared first.

"Come on, I'm sure I could make him bleed-" As Andrew said 'bleed', he twisted his roots once again scrapping Toki's face on the ground and cutting it even more. "-Even more. Besides, he shot Magi." The Rose, whose name seemed to be Magi, was wiping pea stains from his head.

"Still, I don't care. Let's just, go get that Chomper and Sunflower, then we can get out of here."


	9. Chapter 9: Arguments and News

**A/N: Let's see who gets the reference other than ThePeawithGoggles and TastyBlueCrayon ;)**

"Calamity? Calamity, you there?" Ali asked in frustration, she really didn't think Calamity was serious.

"Alright, Ali, I gotta go, we're landing now." They weren't actually landing, Desmond wanted a reason to hang up and check on his friend. Before Desmond was able to wander over to the small bathroom, a newspaper caught his attention, the headline blaring away something distressing.

"Total mayhem in the west?... Dave returns flustered and with distressing news?! What the..." Desmond read on, the newspaper made Desmond's mind swirl, the things he was learning made him intrigued and angry.

"Hey Des, what you looking at?" Desmond looked up from the newspaper and found himself looking at Apollo, the Armour Chomper.

"Just this newspaper. Hey, just wondering, did you know that Dave was collaborating with another army of plants and a group of zombie traitors?" Apollo seemed surprised by Desmond's question.

"I uh...didn't know that. Man...Dave's pretty trusting, willing to put himself in danger for some festering corpses." Desmond seemed unaffected by Apollo's comment.

"If you look here, Dave says that doesn't hate all the zombies, in fact, the only zombie he has any dislike of, is Edgar." Apollo seemed surprised, again, by Desmond's statement.

"Um... I don't understand that... If any zombie had the chance, they would rip Dave to pieces, just like if any of us had the opportunity, we would rip Zomboss to pieces." Desmond was shocked by how angry the Armour Chomper felt about this subject.

"I think it would be best not to say things like that, Dave is sensitive about these kinds of things...I mean, he probably hates this continual fighting as much as we do." Apollo shook his large head and turned away to have a conversation with Nathan. Desmond on the other hand turned as well and walked over to the door of the bathroom and knocked.

"Hey, Calamity, you alright?" Desmond put his head against the door and he could hear his undead friend crying away, a frown formed on Desmond's flaming head.

"I-I'm alright..." Calamity's sobbing made Desmond frown harder, it wasn't helping that Calamity's reply was worrying.

"Look, Calamity, I know what it feels like being rejected...And remember that you have me, Uncle Orlan, Uncle Ambrose, my parents-" Desmond was cut off.

"I-I know...But I mean...I really thought I had a chance with her..." Desmond waited for a few seconds before letting Calamity know some more devastating news.

"Look, Calamity, Ali is my cousin, my dad and hers are cousins." Calamity stopped crying, Desmond could tell. After a few worrying seconds, the sound of something slumping to the floor sounded out through the door, Desmond's eyes widened in panic as he tried to knock down the door.

* * *

Pete sighed as he looked over the crumbling ruins, memories that he wished he could have erased formed before his eyes. The death of his friend, Ash, the screams, yells and disorder of the evacuation, his return two years after and nearly meeting death.

"Pete, I have to thank you, I understand how painful this must be for you." Pete snapped back to reality and looked at his many great grandfather, a look of worry on their face.

"I'm fine, let's just, get this over and done with." Pete set off towards the damaged portal, despite being at least twenty four years since the last time it had been used, the portal worked perfectly fine. Pete stepped through to find a hole in the centre of the abandoned graveyard he now stood in, a look of anger formed on his pale face. After a few seconds he was joined by Avrae, Delnid and Raziel, only Delnid knew the significance of the Graveyard.

"Why does he looked so pissed?" Avrae asked rather inconsiderately.

"This is where a time machine was used...it nearly ended the war for a zombie victory." Avrae seemed to be confused about Delnid's explanation.

"Let's go in, I want to get this over and done with." Pete headed into the hole, he was followed in by Avrae, Delnid and Raziel, the sterile halls seemed to have been untouched by time. After a few minutes of silence, the group of four entered a large chamber, post and pre-time machine Z-Tech filled the clean room. The group split up and searched for any sign of the Time Machine, but what Pete found instead, shocked the Peashooter. Pete grabbed the device and read the label, 'Aternalus Fuel', the Peashooter had some basic knowledge of what the device was capable of as he had read about such devices during his brief stay at 'The Citadel'. Pete stabbed himself with the device, well he placed the needle into his transparent stem as best as he could, and pushed down on it. Pete yelled out in pain as the point around the needle turned green.

* * *

Upint stood at the same time Alduin did, the giant Fire Pea easily towering over the small Plasma Pea known as Death.

"You're just as bad as Horryine." Horryine, the current god of Life and ex-Death, snapped his bored head up from the table and glared at Upint, she was still as annoying as ever. Alduin smirked on the other.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Horryine snapped his attention over to the other Plasma Pea, he was both glad and mad at Alduin, one, how dare he compare himself to Horryine, two, he was glad Alduin respected his presence.

"You're going to pay for your insolence." Alduin was tired of Upint, he started to circle around the table the gods were seated at, Upint started doing the same.

"You're so self-righteous, you know that, Upint?" Now she was mad. It's one thing to question her, something completely different to outright insult her.

"Why you little-" She didn't finish her sentence, she launched herself across the room at the Plasma Pea.

"UPINT! STOP!" Molist stood from his seat as he yelled out at the Fire Pea before she attacked Alduin. Upint turned to look at the Chomper, who wore a golden helmet, a look of anger on her flaming face.

"What, do you want, imbecile?!" The Chomper didn't seem fazed by the Fire Pea's insult.

"I want you to calm, Upint. Forgive Alduin as he will do the same." Alduin felt the glare of the Chomper's non-existent eyes.

"You want me to-" Upint was interrupted by Alduin.

"I apologize for my actions, Upint. I should not have questioned your line of work." Upint was shocked by the Plasma Peas apology. Alduin, on the other pod, felt the glare of the Chomper direct to Upint. Alduin also let Adjudicator, his scythe, evaporate.

"Y-You...what. No, you aren't getting out of this that easily-" Upint was, once again, interrupted, this time by Molist.

"Upint, that's enough. He apologized, you should do the same." Upint sighed, she knew the Chomper would not stop pestering her until she gave in.

"Fine." Upint let out in a disgruntled tone before turning to the smug looking Plasma Pea. "I apologize for acting the way I did, Alduin." With that, the three plant gods/goddess returned to their seats to continue the meeting.


	10. Chapter 10: Returning to his body

Pete felt out of control of his body as the world seem to get further and further away, one of the side effects of putting aternalus fuel into you. After a few seconds, Pete regained control and looked down at himself, his body was being repaired cell by cell from where he had stuck the needle into himself. It seemed to only be rebuilding his stem where his current translucent stem so that he was anatomically correct, just like he would have been before he been transformed into a ghost. Avrae and Raziel watched in amazement while Delnid finally found what he was searching for, the ruined time machine.

"I found it! It's broken though." Avrae, Pete and Raziel rushed over to Delnid and the ruined time machine, a look of worry on Delnid's face.

"I think I can fix it for you." Pete's comment brought a questioning look to his ancestors face.

"You really think you can fix it, ghost?" Avrae asked with a questioning tone.

"I know I can. When I get it working, you might have a minute or two before I return to being a normal Peashooter and I lose the ability to maintain the time portal." Pete's answer was directed at all of them. Without any warning, Pete started working on the machine and after around a minute, Pete placed his still ghostly white, right pod against the machine and it activated, the portal revealing a scene Delnid hadn't see in a long time, his home and castle.

"Alright, I might be able to maintain the portal for a minute longer." By this point of time, Pete's entire stem, roots and the leaves around them had materialized Pete was quickly becoming a Peashooter again.

"Alright, Pete, thank you so much or your help. You haven't disappeared yet so I am clearly going to have children for many generations to come. Good luck Pete, don't die on me now." Just as Delnid started stepping through the portal, Pete spoke.

"Goodbye, Delnid. I hope to see you once more." Delnid smiled at his descendant and went completely through the portal. Avrae and Raziel both looked at the portal then back at each other.

"Avrae... I don't want to go back." The Dark Peashooter was shocked by the Fire Roses declaration.

"Look, Raziel, if you don't want to go back, then I will stay here with you." Avrae yelped when the Fire Rose pulled him into a hug.

"I love you so much." Avrae struggled with his emotions as he tried to form a reply.

"I...love you too." Raziel's smile deepened when the Dark Pea expressed themselves, something she knew he struggled with. Before the two could continue to converse however, Pete collapsed and hit the floor with a thump, the repair process was complete and he was a full-fledged Peashooter again,  
but this would all be at a cost however.

* * *

"APOLLO! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Desmond yelled out to the Armour Chomper who came as fast as he could.

"What's the matter?" Apollo asked in a concerned voice, he knew something was really wrong if Desmond was flustered and worried.

"Calamity, I think he may have just done something horrible, it sounded like he slumped to the floor." Apollo understood what Desmond was trying to say so he headbutt the door, knocking it down and opening up the small bathroom.

"Oh my Dave, Calamity, please don't be dead." Desmond ran over to the bloody, undead Peashooter, an incision on his neck, it was bleeding profusely. Desmond placed his pod over the incision.

"Apollo, go and get, Tania, tell her it's important." Desmond turned his attention to Calamity. "Come on Calamity, don't leave us again...you're so close to what you want." Calamity coughed up some blood as he chuckled slightly.

"I don't want to go on...not without her." Desmond grabbed his cousin's head so that he had to look into Desmond's flaming eyes.

"Don't you ever say that, Calamity. I want you to know this, I will go to the ends of this Earth, even moves Heaven and Earth, for you." By this time, Tania the Metal Petal came into the bathroom and healed the hole in Calamity's neck.

"Thanks you, Tania." Desmond directed his response at the Metal Petal before turning his attention back Calamity. "Hey, we're landing now, let's go meet this scientist you've telling me about." Desmond got up and helped Calamity to his roots before they left the RV to be greeted by a giant tarantula, one that seemed to even intimidate Apollo.

* * *

Toki felt all the weight removed from his head and he soon found himself in the maws of a Chomper, he was too weak and too injured to do anything about it. To his great surprise, the Chomper didn't consume him, instead, it let out a rather reluctant moan and shut their mouth enough so it was comfortable for them, while not killing Toki in the process. From what Toki could hear and see, the Rose had captured Svetlana and Dimytri.

"LET ME DOWN THIS INSTANCE!" Svetlana screamed out in anger.

"Alright, Magi, get us out of here." Before any of them knew what was happening, the sensation of teleportation overcame all them and they soon themselves standing outside L.E.A.F HQ.

"Welcome back, commander Saur." A Fire Cactus stood saluting ahead of the strange looking plant. They had the resemblance of a Raptor, but they were a banana, standing on their hind legs, they were an intimidating sight, far more so than a regular Chomper. On their back sat a pot, inside said pot stood a Lightning Reed, a rare variant of plant barely found. The Chomper holding Toki dropped him to the ground before wandering off to Dave knows where. The Rose released Vera, Svetlana and Dimytri before they floated off knowing their job was done. Vera, Svetlana, Toki and Dimytri were quickly shackled and brought into L.E.A.F where they were taken to a meeting room where an Ice Pea sat, alongside a Camo Cactus.

"Welcome to L.E.A.F." The Ice Pea directed at the group of four, who were still shackled. When she saw the Peashooter, her expression remained that of calm, but a slight tinge of anger could be heard in her ice cold voice. "Do get a medic in here, now. I want that Peashooter healed, we need their  
entire teams expertise." A Fire Cactus guard ran off and got a sunflower to heal the Peashooter while the Camo Cactus addressed the recent arrivals.

"I apologize in advance for any pain you may have suffered, but L.E.A.F is in need of plants from your region of the planet." Svetlana and Vera's expressions were ones of shock, Dimytri seemed disinterested and Toki seemed to be barely holding onto reality.

"Why us? Why do you need us?" Svetlana asked in anger as she looked over at her best friend since they were both young kids, Toki.

"Because we need your knowledge of the landscape. We have intelligence claiming that a group of zombies have been terrorizing the human population and we've been requested to try and stop them in an attempt to unify the resistance further." The Ice Pea's reply shocked Svetlana, she was now honoured  
to have been selected.

"I uh...wow. How do we get back their though?" Svetlana asked rather cautiously.

"Fly, obviously. We know Vera is a pilot and that we can lend her a plane to fly you all back...along with some support of course." The Camo Cactus answered this time.

"What kind of support?" This time Vera asked.

"We'll give you a choice. Team Sierra, lead by Pete Lathyrus. Team Sprout, who retrieved you, and Team Af Alpha, lead by Ane Conel." The Camo Cactus' answer was only half of the full answer.

"Team Sierra consists of Pete Lathyrus, Alison Helianthus, Peter Elatius and Cole Drosera. Sprout consists of Saur, Magi, Andrew and Reed. While Af Alpha consists of Ane Conel, Sarah Caryophyllales, Hershel Leguminosae and Mystic Asteraeae. The problem is that trying to assemble Af Alpha and Sierra may take a while since most of those teams haven't been on the battlefield together for a long time." The Ice Pea's answer limited their options down so Vera made a decision for their team.

"I think it'll be fastest and the best if we go with Team Sprout because they're here and I mean...some of these names will be hard to remember." The Ice Pea and Camo Cactus seemed slightly relived by Vera's choice.

"Thank you, I feel better knowing some of our best fighters will still be here if the situation demands it."


	11. Chapter 11: Prototypes of a weapon

The Dark Peashooter slapped the unconscious Peashooter across the face in an attempt to wake them up, the slap had no effect at all. Before he could slap the Peashooter again, Raziel grabbed his pod mid swing.

"NO! That is not how you revive someone, Avrae." Raziel let out in a shrill tone. She pushed the Dark Peashooter aside and placed on of her equivalents of a hand to the Peashooter's chest and focused her energy into them. After a few seconds, a sharp pain

jolted through her pod and the Peashooter sat up in shock, they inhaled sharply as they did so. Their right pod also shot up to their head to cover a bruise.

"What...happened?" Pete asked in a disheveled tone, the Peashooter was dazed and confused.

"You passed out unexpectedly." Slight concern in the Fire Roses voice.

"Ah...Alright." The Peashooter pushed themselves off of the ground and looked around the room, something standing behind a row of shelves caught his attention.

"What are you looking at?" Avrae asked in a questioning tone, before wandering over to where Pete was looking. Once Avrae was at the row of shelves, he peered through them to find a rusted, heavy set robot, an evil glare in its deactivated eyes. Avrae reached through the of the gaps in the shelves and ran his pod down one of the robots arm, to his surprise the robots other arm reached out, grabbed Avrae's wrist and yanked on the Dark Peashooter's arm, his face slammed against the shelves. After a few seconds, the Mech Soldier launched Avrae back and blew its way through

the row of shelves, its eyes glowing red.

"AVRAE! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Raziel yelled over to the Dark Peashooter who was recovering from the shock of the blow. Pete raced over to the Mech and leapt up at them, using one of his pods to cover the Mechs eyes.

"Go, get out of here, I'll hold it off." Pete yelled over to Raziel and Avrae while the Mech bucked around erratically as it tried to throw the Peashooter off.

"We aren't going without you." Raziel let out angrily as she picked up her wand before trying the goatify spell on the Mech, it backfired and turned Avrae into a goat. Pete growled as he felt his grip slipping, he had to get them out. Out of pure frustration, Pete gestured in their direction and, to his great surprise, they vanished, teleported to his home in northern suburbia. The shock wore off and Pete felt himself lose his grip as he was unceremoniously thrown to the ground by the Mech Soldier, the force and untidiness of the landing causing Pete to not only land on his face, but caused him to cut it.

"It's just you and me, you hunk of scraps." Pete's statement more of a hiss than anything.

"I'll take pleasure in slowly ripping you apart." The Mechs voice was distorted and static, as if it hadn't been activated in many, many years.

"Let's see about that." Pete let out before charging the Mech, the top of the Mechs hand shot up and it fired mini rockets at the charging Plant. Pete, unprepared for the shots, took one of the rockets straight to the face, the force of the blast blowing him onto his back, a large burn mark covered half his face. Pete rolled out of the way of a follow up attack and used the moment of the roll to get back to his roots. Pete returned fire, but his Peas were ineffective against the well armoured Mech, a frown formed on Pete's face.

"What's the matter? You're puny attacks can't pierce my Armour." Pete growled at the taunting Mech as he tried to close the distance. Before Pete could react, the Mech leapt forward in a kicking motion, similar to that of a Superbrainz. Pete couldn't dodge it in time and felt the metal undersides of the Mech Soldier's feet slam against his head and chest multiple times, before the Mech stopped kicking and stood in front of the now kneeling Peashooter. Pete took a deep breath as time seemed to slow, he watched as the Mech slowly wound back their right arm, ready to punch the Peashooter. Pete smirked as he rolled to the side as to avoid the punch, and quickly placed his right pod on the Mechs left shoulder. Time remained slow as Pete watched the Mech try and elbow him with its left arm. Pete easily dodged the attack and began laying waste to the Mechs head, it's helmet soon flew off and revealed to Pete the little remains of a brain. Pete quickly grabbed the

brain and ripped it out, wires were attached to the bottom.

"N-NOOooo..." The Mech let out before tumbling forward. Pete back-flipped off the Mechs back as it fell, the brain was still in his pods.

* * *

Raziel gasped as she reappeared on the steps of the Peashooter's home, how was he still able to use magic? Before she could continue to ponder the question, she was headbutt by a goat who called out at her. Raziel gasped before smirking bemusedly at the goat, she had forgotten she had accidentaly goatified Avrae.

"Don't worry, I'll get you back to normal...when I find my spell book." Raziel smiled yet again, the goat Avrae's mouth dropped in shock. She laughed slightly at the sight and gestured with her wand in Avrae's general direction, the Dark Peashooter appearing from a cloud of smoke.

"It isn't funny, ok?" Raziel continued to giggle behind her equivalents of hands, a smile began to form on Avrae's face.

"Why are you smiling?" The Fire Rose asked through her giggling.

"Because, I made you happy." Raziel pulled the Dark Peashooter into a tight hug, to her surprise, he returned it.

"Thank you so much." Avrae and Raziel broke their hug to find a Fire Flower looking at them from the end of the path, a look of shock on her face.

"Who are you?" The Fire Flower asked in a confused tone.

"We are friends of Pete...we were just leaving." Raziel hit Avrae when he opened his mouth, she didn't want him to speak because Raziel knew that the Fire Flower was Alison, Desmond's mother.

"Alright...speaking of Pete, where is he?" Raziel and Avrae looked at each other before they both replied.

"He's gone out...to have some uh...surgery done." Raziel answered the last half as Avrae trailed off past the Fire Flower, fear in his eyes.

"Uh...ok...well, goodbye then." The Fire Flower walked up to the door and walked into the house. Raziel joined Avrae at the end of the path and the two plants wandered off towards the forest where the decaying remains of Avrae's castle remained.

* * *

Desmond winced at the sight of the giant spider, it easily towered over Apollo, the largest of their group, and seemed to be sizing each of them up.

"LASIODORA! LEAVE OUR GUESTS ALONE!" The yelling came from behind the giant Tarantula and from around the side of one of its giant hairy legs came a Zoologist, various animals clutching to their clothes. "You must be the escorts L.E.A.F sent, I'm glad you have all arrived, it's best we leave immediately." The group of five plants looked up at the Spider, it seemed to have packs and chests tied to its back.

"It seems you were prepared for us?" The Zoologist nodded at them.

"I simply told my peers I would be going on an expedition in search of new species, well that was all lies. Let's just go before they suspect anything." With that, the Zoologist climbed a top the Tarantula and the giant spider lumbered forward, the plants followed suit.


	12. Chapter 12: Inrepairable Reputation

A streak of light flashed across the night sky, followed by another, and another, soon there were four beams of light streaking across the sky, heading in the general direction of L.E.A.F HQ, a distress signal from deep within the HQ blared out on a frequency that neither plant nor human radios could pick up. After an hour, the lights vanished from the skies and many a weary plant wandered back to bed, the lights that had intrigued them were gone and so was their interest in remaining awake for many had work in the morning.

* * *

Zomboss lay down in his cell, for the past twenty-four years he had been plotting his revenge, and soon, it would come to fruition. The rudimentary transmitter he had thrown together from the various items he had requested of the plant leaders that he had been permitted, was powerful enough to send a message through universes, if he had the power. Despite the limited capabilities of the transmitter, which was running on a low voltage setting so that the guards wouldn't notice anything strange, it was still able to send a signal from deep within the heavily armoured L.E.A.F HQ and out to a range of twenty kilometres. Despite the signals strength, Zomboss was somewhat skeptical of the chances of success, he had no idea what had happened to his most expensive investment of the war. So it came as a surprise when the sound of an explosion rocked through the cave system he had been imprisoned in.

* * *

Pete awoke with a fright, he must have fallen asleep after defeating the Mech that had attacked him, Avrae and Raziel. Pete looked around the room to try and find the beeping sound that had awoken him. He soon found a digital schematic of L.E.A.F HQ, the schematic was bleeping red along the rear wall, an alert next to it warned of an explosion that had pierced through the thick hide of the HQ. Pete summoned his energy and tried to teleport to where the alert was highlighting, to his surprise, he found himself outside a giant hole that had been blasted through the side of L.E.A.F HQ, a look of worry on his face as cautiously entered the base through the hole, muddy boot prints lead towards a staircase down the end of the hall to the left of where Pete now stood. Before Pete could head down the hall to investigate the footsteps, the sound of someone groaning caught his attention.

"Oh no. What happened?" Pete leant down beside the injured Fire Pea, he summoned some medical supplies and began patching them up as well as he could.

"Four Mechs blasted their way into the base. I tried to stop them going any further...they're tougher than I expected...I'm surprised they spared me." After covering up the most serious of the wounds on the Fire Pea, they grabbed Pete's wrist. "Look, go and alert my sister, Icee, she can put this whole building into lock-down and she can rally as many teams as possible to deal with this threat." Pete looked at the Fire Pea before looking down the hall where the robots had apparently gone, a thought popped into his mind.

"Look, I'm going to go and try to delay those Mechs-" Pete was immediately cut off.

"No, kid, I can't let you do that." The Fire Pea's protest didn't deter Pete.

"You can't stop me. Look, I'll be able to delay them long enough for you to tip Icee off." The Fire Pea sighed.

"Can I at least know your name? Just so I can let the rest of your team know where you if they arrive?" The Fire Pea's question confused Pete slightly.

"Uh...Pete, Lathyrus." The Fire Pea's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, you're the Peashooter that Dave picked up the night we became advanced plants. Anyway, good luck, Pete. Come out of this alive, alright?" With that, the Fire Pea pulled themselves up onto their roots and limped towards the lobby. Pete on the other hand stared down into the hallway and at the staircase that descended deep into L.E.A.F HQ, a look of determination on his green face.

* * *

Icee picked up another disappearance report, the frequency of which she had been receiving these letters had been growing at a steady pace. To her great dismay, and to the dismay of the other leaders, there had been calls for each of them to resign more than once over the past few months, despite their efforts to find what had been causing the disappearances. It had started around ten years ago, usually for only a day or two, a plant would go AWOL, and return slightly dazed. But as of late, plants were disappearing for weeks and returning completely different, not even the sunflowers could explain what had happened to them. Icee placed down the letter when someone burst into the room, it was her brother, Kendrick, to her great surprise, he was injured.

"Kendrick, what happened to you?!" Icee asked in shock as her brother clutched their arm, apparently someone had patched some of the wounds in his chest and stem.

"L.E.A.F is under attack, you have to lock-down the building." Kendrick spoke with complete disregard for his own health, he wanted to make sure the building was secured and reinforcements brought in to halt the attack.

"You need to get to the infirmary." Icee was more worried about her brother than the HQ, something that seemed uncharacteristic of her considering he wasn't seriously injured.

"Don't worry about me, I can still fight. But the HQ-" Kendrick was cut off.

"No excuses. Peater's gone missing on us, I'm not losing you too." With that, she grabbed her brother and dragged him to the infirmary without raising the alarm, something that would prove to be the last mistake of her career as a leader of L.E.A.F.

* * *

Calamity looked downtrodden as he watched Tania climb atop the giant Tarantula that waltzed ahead of them, the Zoologist seemed happy to talk with her. Apollo, the Armour Chomper, seemed to be trying to make himself appear larger than he was in an attempt to intimidate the spider, which only resulted in the spider playfully knocking the Armour Chomper over, which actually caused everyone to laugh, except Calamity, instead, he smiled slightly. Apollo let out an undignified huff as he pushed himself off of the ground and gave up trying to intimidate the spider and accepted her as the superior one out of them.

"Lasiodora, behave yourself." The Zoologist pet the spider despite his minor scolding while Desmond walked over to Apollo.

"That was pretty funny, you have to admit." Apollo smiled and nodded at the Fire Pea, despite being pushed over by a giant Tarantula at the time had seemed unamusing, now it seemed comical to the Armour Chomper.

"It was pretty funny...when I think about it." Apollo's reply and smile pleased Desmond


	13. Chapter 13: Breaking out

Pete trundled down the steel staircase apprehensively, despite his determination to delay the Mechs, there was still a tint of fear clouding his thoughts, something rare for a Lathyrus, something rare for someone like himself. Despite this slight cloud, Pete carried on descending flight after flight of stairs, he hoped that no other plants had been seriously harmed during his slow descent. After what felt like an eternity, though it was only two minutes, Pete reached the bottom of the stairs, the four Mechs had their backs to him as they stared blankly at a door. These Mechs were different to the simple one Pete had fought back in the sterile room where the Time Machine was, these Mechs were hulking, metal menaces that resembled that of a Super Elite. Each of these Mechs seemed to be equipped with a strange looking model of ZPG as lines of purple snaked its way around the ZPG. The Mechs also appeared to carry a bandolier armed with grenades, something that worried Pete. Despite these strange additions to the Mechs, Pete approached them from behind cautiously and just as he was about to leap up onto the back of the one farthest to the left, an explosion blew apart the thick, steel door that the Mechs had been staring. Pete was blown back into a wall where he hit his head, hard. The Peashooter looked around for a few seconds, dazed, before his vision corrected itself and allowed him to see the Mechs had been unaffected by the blast as they now waltzed through the blasted doors and into what appeared to be a prison. Pete managed to push himself up onto his roots and unsteadily walk towards the prison.

* * *

Zomboss jolted up when he heard a loud explosion blow apart the doors at the end of the hall. He watched as the guards, a staunch looking Armour Chomper and Rock Peashooter, fell quickly to a hail of explosions and bullets.

"Pathetic whelps." Zomboss snorted slightly as he insulted the barely conscious guards before looking over to his now open cells, one of the Mechs had pried apart the cell door. "You have all done well. Now, get me out of here safely and back to my mansion, we have much to do." With that, Zomboss stepped out of his cell and into the hall, his Mechs took up positions around him to protect him from every direction.

* * *

Pete staggered over to the broken door and leant against it, it felt like his entire body was broken, something that he thought was impossible. Pete looked down the hall to find the Mechs surrounding something that seemed to be important to them.

"Gah, not you! GET HIM! I WANT HIM ALIVE!" Pete recoiled in shock as soon as he realized whose shrill voice it was. Instead of charging at them like he normally would, Pete began to feel an oppressive pressure pinning him to where he was so he simply closed his eyes and readied for the beating he was about to receive.

* * *

Zomboss smiled deviously as he changed the frequency of his transmitter to an experimental frequency that was proving to be extremely useful, Pete, a thorn in his side, was being suppressed by the subliminal frequency that had taken over his mind. Zomboss even let out a shrill laugh of success as he watched the Mechs pick up the Peashooter and shackle him, the plant didn't even resist. Zomboss slowly made his way over to the plant, a look of anger and pain written on their face.

"What's the matter zombie got your brain?" Zomboss laughed as he watched the plant's eyes widen in shock. "Don't worry, Pete. We're going to get a lot closer than you would think, in fact, we'll be just like friends." With that, Zomboss allowed two of his Mechs to grab ahold of his arms and carry him out of L.E.A.F HQ uncontested, the other two Mechs held the immobile Peashooter. "Onward, to my home so that we may begin rallying my forces once more." With that, the Mechs ZPG's propelled them into the skies and towards the remnants of Zomboss' Manor at the edge of Suburbia.

* * *

Corinth drifted idly down the alley towards the small table where a Toxic Chomper, Toxic Peashooter, a Toxic Brainz and a tall, blonde human male sat around it, money piled up around the edges of the table in front of its respective owners. Corinth sat down in the free seat, which wasn't really a seat but more of a pile of garbage.

"You're late, Sativum. You know what that means." Corinth looked over at the Toxic Chomper, their deep voice would make a stranger uncomfortable, but Corinth had been around this volatile group long enough to know that they're threats were often hollow, especially against him.

"Yeah, I know." Corinth threw twenty dollars onto the central pile as his 'late-fee' before being handed a few cards by the Toxic Brainz.

"So, you able to find him, Corinth?" Corinth looked over at the Toxic Pea, he was the only one of the group with enough courage to even utter his first name.

"Done, that's one less mark for you to deal with, Virulent." The Toxic Pea smiled deviously and threw a sack of money to Corinth, who, in return, threw Virulent a set of dogtags.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Sativum." Virulent looked down at his cards quickly and threw them down. "Fold." The Toxic Peashooter muttered before standing up and walking away. Just as they reached the end of the alley, they were ambushed from the side by a hooded and masked, anthropomorphic figure. At the same time they were ambushed, three similar figures jumped out and grabbed Corinth, the Toxic Brainz and the Human, and put them into strangleholds. The Toxic Chomper stood and made a clicking noise with their mouth as they made off with all the money on the table. Corinth growled as he heard the necks of the human and the Toxic Brainz snap while the figure that held him began to strangle him.


	14. Chapter 14: Converting to the other side

**A/N: Woo-Hoo, over one-thousand views :D. Thank you all so much, I'm impressed I get over one hundred views on my stories. Well they're all on my profile, so is some character bios that really need an update. Well on with the chapter, please do enjoy it and any constructive criticism is appreciated :)**

Pete groaned as he watched the world fly by beneath him, whatever Zomboss had invented was beginning to slowly drive him insane with the pain and feeling of hopelessness. ' _I failed them all, my son, my partner...my parents…'_ And the list seemed to go on and on as Pete listed off everyone he failed, no matter what he tried to do, that seemed to be the only thing he could think of, it was as if he was being consumed by it. After what felt like an eternity, Pete was dropped to the ground, the oppressive thoughts and pressure seemed to lift as he felt shackles lock themselves around his stem, pods and neck.

"You plants could have at least maintained this place, you're all worse than my nephew at keeping a place running. But I can still work with this...now where did I leave my spare keys." Pete looked up to find Zomboss looking through shattered pots in search of a key into his mansion, after a minute, he found them. "Haha, now then, let's see if this place still has power." With that, Zomboss unlocked the front door and entered the giant mansion. After a few seconds, the massive front room lit up as the chandelier was turned on.

"This isn't happening…" Pete mumbled as he was dragged into the dusty mansion, Zomboss seemed annoyed at how messy the room was.

"This was once a nice place, until you all let it fall into disrepair. I actually thought that bumbling idiot, Dave, would have moved in here-" Zomboss' monologuing angered Pete.

"HE ISN'T AN IDIOT! YOU ARE!" Zomboss stopped mid-sentence at the Peashooter's interruption. Zomboss slapped Pete multiple times.

"I saw the true potential of that serum, reanimating the dead so that we could all live eternally! All that bumbling buffoon wanted was a bunch of...sentient plants to keep him company because he was so lonely, bah, if only he would have taken my deal, seen the potential of this all, I could have found him a partner." Pete was shocked by Zomboss' revelation.

"Y-You mean…" Zomboss seemed surprised by Pete's stammering.

"He never told you? Oh this is getting better every second. Yes Pete, if it wasn't for me, you would be nothing but a little pea pod somewhere in the forests." Pete seemed so shocked by Zomboss' revealing of his past that Pete couldn't begin to believe it.

"N-No...it can't be." Zomboss laughed at the shocked Peashooter.

"I guess he never told you that he was responsible for the zombie outbreak. He never told you it was he who dropped the serum onto a grave and brung the dead back, he is the cause of my zombies existence, I'm the cause of yours." Pete's heart seemed to stop still, he couldn't comprehend it, ' _It couldn't be true!'_ He kept convincing himself it wasn't, But he began to accept the fact that Zomboss was most likely right, not even someone as smart as he was could forge such a piece of information.

"Why did you bring me here?" Pete asked with a seething hatred in his voice, not only of Zomboss, but of the lovable, pan-wearing man affectionately named 'Crazy Dave', a part of Pete had died, one he had never expected and that was the reverence almost all plants had for Dave.

"Only to convert you to my side of course, you could be a very dangerous asset to me." Pete smiled at Zomboss' answer.

"Very well then, I accept." It was Zomboss' turn to stammer in shock.

"Y-You...what?! Did I hear that correctly?" Pete nodded.

"Indeed you did. If Dave can't trust in us enough, his first and only line of defence, to tell us of our past, then he clearly isn't someone to trust. I'll work for you, Edgar...For my family and the plants, we need to throw off the blind trust we have in that man." Pete felt strange as he spoke, as if every word he spoke was slowly ripping parts of him out and replacing them with blind hate.

"Good." That was all Zomboss said as he grabbed a lever and pulled it, a machine dropped from the ceiling, surprisingly still intact, and he pushed a few buttons. After a few seconds, a badge came out from the side of the machine and he handed it to Pete.

"Welcome to the dark side, commander Pete." The shackles around Pete fell to the ground as the Peashooter read the badge, it gave basic information, name, species, age, gender and title. Pete gasped slightly when he read his title, he was apparently the Commander of an entire division of zombies that were soon to be summoned and trained.

* * *

Corinth rolled forward onto the table, his assailant flipping over him as he rolled. Corinth felt the pressure around his neck disappear and he quickly pushed himself up and into a fighting position, his assailant doing the same.

"Just die, Sativum, make both our pitiful excuses of lives easier." Corinth leapt as his assailant as an answer to their request.

"What you don't know, is that I'm already dead." With that, Corinth placed a pod around the masked anthropomorphic creatures throat, one he presumed was a zombie, and quickly ripped their head straight from their shoulders with an unprecedented strength. Corinth dropped the rotting head to the ground and wiped the blood from his pods using the remains of a tattered towel. The sounds of a sword piercing flesh sounded out from down the alley and the Toxic Pea soon returned with a blood splattered sword, a cut running down their unmasked face.

"Where are the other two?" Asked Virulent with an aggravated voice.

"They disappeared in clouds of smoke after breaking their-" Corinth gestured at the corpses of the Human and the Toxic Brainz with his right pod. "-necks. The one on the table tried strangling me." Virulent nodded at Corinth before stabbing his sword into the corpse of the Toxic Brainz.

"Sorry about that, I've always wanted to do that." Virulent chuckled slightly before retrieving his sword. "I can't believe that lying, cheating, crime-lord bastard tried to kill us and take off with like… forty bucks?! What the fu-" Virulent was cut off when an explosion racked the alley, it seemed like his car had been blown up. "MY CAR! THAT'S IT! He has to pay."

"I agree. Mess with one Lathyrus, you mess with all of us. Let's go find a phone, I'm calling my family." Virulent gave Corinth a look that suggested the Peashooter was mad.

"I thought you were a Sativum...and you can't call a Lathyrus, one of them will throw me behind bars...or worse." Corinth frowned at Virulent's statements.

"Look, I may have been a Sativum, but I married into the Lathyrus family and changed...besides, I can convince my son, at the least, that you're alright." Virulent seemed unimpressed by Corinth's pleas.

"There's a bounty on my head." Corinth face-palmed.

"They're all financially secure...I made sure of that." Virulent narrowed his eyes as he fought with himself, get revenge against that backstabbing Toxic Chomper, or potentially get thrown behind bars by your…'friends' family.

"Fine then. Only because I want revenge." Corinth nodded and both Peashooter and Toxic Pea walked down the alley in search of a phone.


	15. Chapter 15: Regrets

Pete looked down at the badge in deep thought, something was telling him this was all wrong. Suddenly, a demand formed in Pete's head.

"Zomboss." The malformed zombie turned around from the machine he was tinkering with, a questioning look on his grotesque face.

"What do you want?" Zomboss seemed to be holding back a snarky remark.

"To see my family… Before I go through with this." Zomboss stopped and thought about the Peashooter's request. After a few seconds, the zombie pulled out a device and threw it to Pete, who promptly caught it.

"Use that portal maker to take you there, after, come back here and return it to me, I need it." Pete nodded at Zomboss and created a portal that would take him to his home where he lived with Alison. Pete stepped through the portal and quickly found himself outside the large, single storey house. Pete approached the front door with a worrying thought running through his head, how was Alison going to react to his change of allegiance and body? Putting the thought aside, he walked through the open front door and walked into the lounge, Alison sat on the couch, a book in her equivalents of hands. Pete coughed slightly and Alison looked up from her book, a wide eyed expression on her face.

"H-Hey, Alison… It's me, Pete… I got my body back." Alison placed her book down and stood in shock before she walked over to the bruised Peashooter.

"It really is you… I can tell because I remember, when I was crying over your body, many years ago, I memorized all the scars on you. This one, on your chest," Alison tapped lightly on Pete's chest, just beneath his heart. "This one on your left arm," Alison used her free 'hand' to tap Pete halfway up his arm. "And this one, right under your right eye." Alison gently touched the scar beneath Pete's right eye, using the 'hand' she used to point out the scar on his chest. Pete grabbed Alison and pulled her into a hug.

"I feel like I've made the biggest mistake in my life." Pete let out in a tone saturated with self-loathing. Alison began to slowly rub his back.

"Tell me what happened, I'm sure we can sort it out." Pete started to tear up.

"I've sworn allegiance to Zomboss." Alison gasped in shock and shoved Pete away from her as if he carried a horrific disease.

"Tell me you didn't." Alison sounded as if she was pleading.

"If I was lying… would I be tearing up like this? Alison, I need your help-" Pete was cut off.

"To do what?! Murder Dave? Icee? Blatt? I'm not betraying this side-" This time Alison was cut off.

"PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!" Pete yelled out, something that shocked both of them. Pete continued in a tone of pleading. "I need to get out of this… I don't want to harm anyone other than those who deserve it." Alison seemed to stop and process what Pete had just told her.

"What made you swear allegiance to him?" Pete sighed at Alison's question, which she had asked in a stone cold tone.

"What he told me… of Dave creating the zombies… him being the reason Dave created us… it was all over-whelming and I made some stupid decisions." Alison seemed shocked by what Pete had said, but nodded and grabbed the phone book, but before she could dial any numbers, the phone rang so she picked up.

* * *

Corinth and Virulent soon found a public phone on the corner of two quiet side streets, the street light above it flickered slowly as if it struggled to stay illuminated. Corinth picked up the phone, placed a coin into the slot and dialed his youngest son. After a few seconds, someone picked up the phone.

"Hello, is, Pete there?" A surprised gasp was followed by a few muffled whispers

"Yeah, who is this?" Corinth knew it was his son. Corinth frowned when he remembered what had happened the last time he had met up with his son, so he chose his words carefully.

"Pete, your family needs you. We've run into some trouble with a crime family and they want my-our, heads." There was an awkward silence for a few seconds after Corinth had finished speaking.

"D-Dad? Is that you?" Pete's response shocked Corinth.

"Umm… yeah. Pete, I really need your help. I'm sorry about what happened last time we met… I want to make it up to you and I've really been trying to change." There was an extended groan from the other end of the line so Corinth tried a different approach. "Look, I understand how tough it may be for you, son, with me being a murderer and all… but I really do want to change… especially after your mothers death. All I ask of you is your help taking down someone who is wreaking havoc across the town." The groaning came to a stop.

"Alright then… dad… I will try to help… But you have to come to me first." Pete's reply shocked Corinth, he didn't expect his pleading to work.

"Alright then, I'll be around as soon as possible. Goodbye, son." Corinth hung the phone up and looked at the unmasked Toxic Peashooter behind him, they gave off a radiant glow *reminiscent to that of a radioactive stick of uranium.

"We in luck?" Virulent asked his sword glinted dangerously as it was sheathed on his back.

"Indeed we are. Come on, let's go visit my son." With that, Corinth and Virulent set off towards the large home, somewhere in the north of suburbia.

* * *

Pete set down the phone and turned to face Alison, a questioning look on her face.

"It was only my father, alright? He's in trouble and after what he said, I feel like he's being honest with me… I need to give him this chance." Alison groaned slightly at what Pete had said.

"Are you sure you can trust him? After what you've told me of him… He doesn't seem like the… caring type." Pete rolled his eyes at what Alison was saying.

"Look, you're going to have to trust me about this." Alison groaned again but nodded at the pleading Peashooter.

"Fine. But if he tries to hurt you, I will take his head off." Pete chuckled slightly at Alison's aggressive statement.

"And I will do the same if he tries to harm you…" Pete paused for a few seconds. "Where's Sonja?" Alison raised an eyebrow before gasping.

"We're terrible parents." It was Pete's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? I get me being a terrible parent, but you aren't." Alison started paniking.

"I don't know where she is!" Pete furrowed his brow as he tried to think about where she could be. After a few seconds, a tiny yawn came from the door that lead into the lounge.

"What's all the commotion about?" There she stood, in the doorway, Sonja, giving her parents a confused look. "Whoa… mum… who's the Peashooter?" Pete began to blush before face palming.

"It's your father." Alison said in a rather teasing tone.

"W-What… but dad-"

"Was a ghost, I got my body back, sweetie." Pete's reply confused the young Mystic Flower.

"O-Ok… I'm just gonna go back to bed…" With that, Sonja wandered back to her room at the end of the hallway and on the left.

* * *

After an hour of wandering through the deserted, dark streets of the north, Corinth and Virulent found the home of Corinth's youngest son, Pete Lathyrus. The two slowly approached the door and Corinth knocked on the door in the hope his Peashooter son was still awake, to his surprise, he was.

"Dad… come in-" Pete stopped when he saw the Toxic Peashooter behind his father.

"He's a friend. Can we both come in?" Pete nodded, stood back, and let the two plants in. After they were both in, Pete shut the door and lead both of them into the lounge, Virulent seemed awkward around Pete and even felt suspicious of the Peashooter. Corinth took a seat on one of the couches, Pete sitting in a chair opposite Corinth, Virulent chose to stand.

"Why do you need my help? And be honest, I know that you can easily take care of yourself." Corinth sighed at the direct tone his son was using.

"Because I can't take on an entire private army by myself…" Virulent let out an indignified ' _huff'_ when Corinth didn't mention him. "And even with, Virulent's… sword skills, we still can't take them all on." Pete nodded and looked over at Virulent. The Toxic Peashooter growled at the Peashooter, they didn't seem to budge.

"What do you want?" Pete seemed unaffected by the Toxic Pea's snappy question.

"Just who you are. I've never heard of you before." Virulent raised an eyebrow at the curious Peashooter, why did this Peashooter want to know who he was, or more importantly, why had he never heard of him before.

"Just a fighter, nothing more, nothing less." Pete nodded and turned back to his father.

"So, you need my help, taking on a private army?" Corinth nodded. "Have you contacted anyone else?" This time, Corinth shook his head. "I'll try to contact Ambrose and Orlan…While you two will stay here until they get here," Pete pointed at the Toxic Peashooter and his Peashooter father. They both nodded. "Good. Now I'll show you to the guest bedroom, sorry, we only have one so you'll either have to share the bed or decide between yourselves who gets it." Pete stood and was quickly followed by Corinth and Virulent. Pete lead the two plants down the hall to the second to last door on the right.

"This is a small room." Virulent commented.

"Agreed." Corinth nodded as he spoke.

"Well you'll have to make do with it, ok? I mean, you could share the couches." Corinth ran back to the lounge before anyone could react. Virulent sighed.

"This room will do perfectly fine… But why? Why are you offering me this room? I'm a complete stranger to you." Pete gave the Toxic Pea a confused look.

"You're my fathers friend, right?" It was Virulent's turn to be confused.

"Acquaintance is probably more accurate." Pete clasped the Toxic Pea on their back, his pod began to tingle from the contact with the irradiated Peashooter's back.

"A friend of one Lathyrus is a friend to us all. Make yourself at home, and sorry." Virulent raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Sorry for what?" Pete withdrew his hand and chuckled slightly.

"For making you feel uncomfortable earlier. Just let me know if you need anything." With that, Pete turned from the Toxic Peashooter and made his way back to the lounge to deal with his father.

* * *

Virulent now stood in the barren room, a single bed with a single blanket on it sat in the corner of the bleak room, the only light was that of the moon, which blared into the room from the single window on the back wall. Virulent smiled at the small room, he was happy to finally have a roof over his head, even if it wasn't his. After being kicked out the university for fighting, he was happy he could finally follow his true passion, but it would come with hardships. Without the funding of his scholarship, Virulent quickly began running out of money. In order to save as much as he could, he sold his temporary apartment, and slept in the car he stole. He used what little money he had to gamble on other fighters in the fighting pits where he followed his passion of fighting, and in games of poker. Virulent had considered getting a proper job to help pay for his gambling, but he soon found that his reputation, while it had made him popular among the crowds that flooded the fighting pits, made him very unpopular to anyone who ran a legitimate business near where he slept. Virulent shook off the thoughts, placed his sword on the floor, beside the bed, and climbed into the bed, it was the most comfortable thing he had ever lay in. Virulent very swiftly fell asleep to where he continued to fight, not his physical opponents, but those of his own mental demons.

* * *

Pete on the other hand had just finished fetching his father a blanket before slunking off to bed. Alison lay awake in the bed reading a book.

"How did it go?" Pete clambered into his half of the bed and nipped one of Alison's flaming petals lightly.

"It went smoothly. My father even brought someone else." Alison seemed skeptical about Pete's words.

"Who did he bring." Pete stopped playing with Alison and sat up.

"A Toxic Peashooter named Virulent." Alison closed her book and placed it on her bedside table.

"The, Virulent?" Pete face palmed.

"How does everyone know who he is. Yes, I think this is the Virulent you're thinking of… can't really think of anyone named Virulent other than him." Alison pet Pete on his back in an attempt to comfort the seemingly hurt Peashooter.

"It's alright you don't know of him. He's just one of the best fighters in the illegal fighting pits down near the docks." Pete looked up at Alison, a surprised look on his face.

"How do you know this?" The flames around Alison's head turned a dark red.

"I know people… plus quite a few of the illegal fighters end up in the morgue at the hospital I work at… they're often really badly sliced up and soon Virulent's name popped up and yeah… through work… that's how I know." Pete nodded as he let out an extended yawn, to which, Alison replied with a shorter, quieter yawn.

"Alright… well I think we ought to get to sleep, it's getting pretty late." Alison nodded, kissed Pete on the check, and rolled over.

"Goodnight, honey." Pete turned off the lamp on his bedside table before lying down and rolling over so that he could snuggle up against Alison and pull her into a hug.

"Goodnight, Alison. I love you." Alison smiled at Pete's confession of his love for her.

"I love you too." With that, the two plants fell asleep hugging each other in an embrace that signified their love for each other.


	16. Chapter 16: Resignations?

Pete awoke in the morning to the sound of excited ' _sqees'_ and ' _will you sign this?'_ Pete got out of his bed and stepped into the hallway, only to find Sonja pestering Virulent.

"Pete. Thank goodness you're awake. Please get the little one to stop asking me questions." Pete smiled slightly at the Toxic Peashooter's blight, he seemed to be resisting the urge to strike the Mystic Flower.

"Alright, Sonja, that's enough. Leave our guest alone." Sonja teleported right into her dads face and pulled a puppy dog face.

"Please let me beg him for an autograph… Please dad." Pete rolled his eyes.

"Sorry dear. Daddy has important business to do with our guest, it's best that he remains undisturbed and rested." Sonja let out an ' _Awww'_ before teleporting into the kitchen to get herself some breakfast. "Sorry about my daughter… looks like she's a fan of yours." Virulent seemed unimpressed by Pete's attempts at reparations.

"It is alright… Just strange that a daughter of a Lathyrus is a fan of my actions." Pete frowned slightly.

"Is there something… wrong, with being a Lathyrus?" Virulent recoiled slightly at how dark the Peashooter's tone and question sounded.

"N-No… Of course not… I just… fall on the other side of the law. I'm just afraid you will throw me into a prison-" Virulent immediately shut his mouth when he realized he was thinking out loud. Pete approached Virulent and placed a pod on his irradiated back.

"Look, mate. I would never throw you into a prison unless you hurt anyone I care about. If you're fighting for… who knows why, then why should you be thrown behind bars?" Virulent nodded at the scarred Peashooter, there was some wisdom in his words, even if they were misguided.

"Why do you think like that?" Pete seemed surprised by the question.

"Like what?" He asked in confusion.

"Why do you think that there is good in me? And are the stories of your family true? The ones where members of your family willingly sacrifice themselves." Pete nodded when he realized what the Toxic Peashooter was asking.

"Why do I think there's good in you? Because I don't need a reason. If I think there is, then I think there is." Pete spoke in a direct tone in an attempt to convey to the Toxic Peashooter that there was no point in arguing the point. He continued in a more somber tone. "But yes, the stories of my family members willingly sacrificing themselves is true…" Virulent nodded slowly at the Peashooter.

"Alright… if you don't mind me asking… why? Why sacrifice yourself for someone else?" Pete pulled a face of concentration as he thought about the question deeply.

"Because… it's the right thing to do. If you saw someone being mugged, what would you do?" Virulent stepped back in shock, the question came from out of the blue.

"I would… step in and help… try to stop the mugger." Pete smiled at the Toxic Peashooter.

"And why would you do that?" Virulent frowned, the Peashooter was going to make him answer his own question.

"Because it's the right thing. Protect the innocent yada-yada. I think I get the point." Pete chuckled before signaling the Toxic Pea to follow him down the hall and into the kitchen.

* * *

Icee awoke on the uncomfortable chair beside the bed her brother lay in, a nervous looking Fire Cactus stood before her, seemingly tongue tied.

"What is it?" The Fire Cactus sighed in relief when she spoke first.

"It's about containment… oh Dave, how do I say this… Zomboss… he's gone." Icee's mouth dropped in shock, the temperature dropped slightly as well.

"H-How?!" Her stammering had woken her brother.

"What's all the commotion about?" He asked in a tired voice.

"It's Zomboss." Replied the Fire Cactus in a flustered tone.

"What about him?" Kendrick asked in a dishandedly manner.

"He's… escaped." Kendrick stopped mid stretch, an expression of ' _your kidding'_ on his flaming face. "I'm not kidding, sir." Kendrick's arms dropped before a look of realization lit up on his face.

"Pete!" Icee seemed confused by her brother blurting out a random name.

"What about him?" She asked in a confused tone.

"He went after the mechs that must have broke Zomboss out… Were there any casualties, on our side?" Kendrick's question was directed at the Fire Cactus.

"J-Just four injured. Minor burn wounds and mild concussions." Kendrick felt lucky, the mechs only roughed him up badly.

"Poor kid, told him not to go after those mechs." The Fire Cactus gave Kendrick a look of ' _I've got some bad news.'_

"Well umm… about Pete… he wasn't down there when we checked..." Kendrick placed his head in his pods, the creeping feeling of guilt started to form in his throat.

"I shouldn't have let him head down there alone… this is all my fault." Icee placed a pod on her brothers back.

"You didn't know… and I should have listened to you… I should have sounded the alarm before forcing you here… If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Kendrick and Icee hugged, both brother and sister trying to assure the other it wasn't their fault.

"Umm… Icee… no disrespect or anything… and sorry about the timing of this… but many of us think it's time for an election." The crystals on Icee's head lost all their colour as she and Kendrick released each other.

"You… wish for me to resign?" The colour returned to Icee's crystals, the temperature seemed to drop sharply, causing slight concern to crack on the Fire Cactus' face.

"N-No… o-of course n-not. It's j-just that there are a-a lot of unsolved m-missing cases and with th-this breakout… we think you may need a b-break… or something…" Icee placed her head in her pods, she had to think of her next words carefully, now was not the time to have a breakdown, especially in the infirmary.

"No, you are right. Maybe it is time I stood aside for a new leader." Both Kendrick and the Fire Cactus gasped in shock, neither of them had actually expected Icee to even consider resigning.

"No, Icee, think about it-" Kendrick was cut off.

"There is nothing to think about. I will have my resignation in soon enough… Blatt should be able to keep this place going until we organize an election." The Fire Cactus seemed to be edgy at what Icee had just said.

"About, Blatt… he's um…" When the Fire Cactus stopped, Icee gave them a steely cold look.

"What about him?" The Fire Cactus sighed.

"He's out of commission for a while… he was one of the injured during the raid last night." Icee gasped alongside Kendrick, how did he, a leader of L.E.A.F and one of their best snipers, get injured during the assault the night before hand?

"How?" Icee asked in shock, the temperature in the room raising slightly.

"He… was inspecting the guards when he was crushed beneath a section of piping, when whatever attacked us-"

"Four mechs… FOUR, MECHS!" Kendrick let out angrily, he was filled with guilt, not just for letting Pete down to take on the deadliest Mechs he had ever seen, by himself, but also for not making his sister activate the alarm and costing her, her job.

"-The four mechs, blasted down the security door." The Fire Cactus was a little shaken from the explanation.

"Right… and with the others… gone… we need a leader in charge until the election." The Fire Cactus threw his arms up in frustration.

"You could be out leader until we vote in some more." Icee shook her head.

"You said it yourself, I need a break… Kendrick, why don't you lead for me?" Kendrick gagged slightly. "What's the matter? You're one of the best leaders I know." Icee's suggestion seemed to embarrass the Fire Pea.

"I was… my skills have… deteriorated over the years." Icee frowned as she tried to think of someone else who could lead in her absence.


End file.
